


If We Only Live Once

by birdisonmaximus



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang wears neon crocs, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Misunderstandings, Not Beta Read, Protective Sokka (Avatar), The Jasmine Dragon (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko Friendship, everyone has a color scheme, we die like zuko's honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27766810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdisonmaximus/pseuds/birdisonmaximus
Summary: Zuko works at the Jade Dragon, his uncle's tea shop in Ba Sing Se. Everyday a gorgeous girl comes in and he kind of falls in love.Zutara feat; Zuko's BFF Toph, lil bitch Sokka, and a lotta feelings for a tea shop AU. I tried, I really really did.—“Zuko tried to catch Katara’s eye by ducking his head a little and mentally gave himself a high five when she looked up.A piece of her hair had fallen in front of her face and Zuko had to physically restrain the hand that wasn’t grabbing the counter behind his back, like some sort of dumbass waiter, so he wouldn’t do something stupid like brush it behind her ear.“Hmm, what a pair we make then, huh?” Katara said to him, looking thoughtful. Zuko found himself leaning closer to her clear blue eyes, trying not to think too hard about what she had said.”
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 12
Kudos: 90





	If We Only Live Once

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title to this is “the things we do for friends” as this was written as a gift for one of my oldest friends. The title comes from the OneRepublic song 'Something I Need' because I lack creativity and that song is a classic, okay?
> 
> This one took me a long time to write but I am proud of what came out in the end, let me know what you think!

“Ugh,” Zuko grunted as he fell like a ragdoll into the love seat in the entry of his and Toph’s apartment. He had just finished an 8 hour shift at The Jasmine Dragon, his uncle’s tea shop, and his current place of employment. While it wasn’t incredibly physically taxing work, he was exhausted from being sort of polite to people all day.

The apartment was only two blocks from the tea shop and his Uncle Iroh lived in the unit above theirs in the building. Toph and he had moved in here a few years ago after they had graduated from their respective programs at the local Ba Sing Se University. Iroh gave guest lectures at the University’s dojo, and that’s where the two had met, the first week of classes.

Their friendship had a rocky start. Zuko didn’t trust anybody, especially some tiny upstart kid that had tried to start a fight with every student she came up against. But after some convincing on Iroh’s part, Zuko had given Toph a chance and they had been close friends ever since. Close enough that people often got the wrong impression about the two of them living together, but if anyone ever said those impressions within Toph’s earshot, they were bound to get a foot shoved in an unpleasant place...

Zuko tried to pull off his Doc Martin’s whithout leaning forward but had very little luck. He dropped his arms from where they were uselessly reaching for his feet. He groaned and shoved himself off the backrest of the couch to unlace his shoes with some very sticky fingers. They had a new collection of boba teas that his uncle had created, and people were loving them. The flavor syrups involved with the new teas were very sticky and Zuko hadn’t had enough energy to wash his hands that thoroughly before leaving the shop that afternoon. 

After pulling off his shoes and tossing them at the shoe rack by the door with some loud clunk sounds, Zuko inspected his hands, frowning at his chipped nail polish. It was a dark green today and he had chosen dark emerald earrings this morning to match. They kind of looked like teardrops. His full black gettup(distressed black jeans and a black turtleneck, how else was he supposed to hold up his emo reputation?) was marred by mysterious patches of something interestingly gooey. Zuko fell back on the couch and closed his eyes.

“Aw, honey, you’re home!” 

Zuko let out a disgruntled, “What?!” and whined, “Toph, I told you to stop calling me that.”

“We’ve known each other for almost 8 years now, Zuko. I think I deserve some nicknames,” Toph yelled from where she must’ve been in her bedroom.

“How did you know it was me and not Iroh?” Zuko asked, “He said he would be dropping by anytime now for dinner.”

Toph laughed and her voice sounded like it was coming closer, from the hallway. She came up behind Zuko and ruffled his hair. He batted her hand away as she said, “Because of those clunky ass boots you wear. Besides, whenever you come back from work it always sounds as if someone was getting beat up in the entryway with how much you moan and groan. I could recognize your sounds anywhere, Princess.”

Zuko hummed warily, but let the nickname slide because it was an oldie and it had been prefaced with such a loving little statement.

“So did your girl come in today?” Toph said, in an almost suspiciously innocuous tone.

Zuko turned around to brace his arms on the back of the couch and glared at her, “What girl? I don’t have a- a girl.”

He knew exactly what she was talking about. Over the past few months a girl had been coming into the tea shop pretty regularly. He knew her name was Katara, from when she ordered her tea, but hadn’t told Toph that. He thought it would be kind of weird that he knew this girl’s name, but he had never really had a two-sided conversation with her. Sure, she’d spoken to him, quite extensively, actually, about everything; the book she was reading, her brothers’ latest shenanigans, a class she was taking(she was a grad student at Ba Sing Se, studying environmental chemistry- Zuko kind of hated that he knew this). But Zuko could never really muster up the courage to say anything of substance back. He had a tendency to be a bit standoffish and gruff. He didn’t want sKatara to get the wrong idea and be scared away by his surly nature. He enjoyed their ‘talks’ even if it was just nodding and ‘mmm-hmm’s on his part.

“Don’t play dumb with me.” Toph said with a jab to Zuko’s shoulder and he was plunged back into reality. Zuko shook his head to clear Katara from his mind and Toph continued, “ _Your girl_ , you know, the one with _hair like an amber waterfall and eyes like the clearest lake_.” Toph said wistfully, looking at the vague area around Zuko’s head. She then laughed at Zuko, giving his head a playful poke. “Are you frowning? I feel like you’re frowning. You don’t get to frown. You’ve said these words to me on many occasions.” She waved a hand in the air and admitted, “Might’ve been drunk every time you said them, but you said them nonetheless!” She pointed at him with a smirk.

Sometimes Zuko really hated how good Toph’s memory was when they drank together. He would only have a hazy recollection of what he’d said and done, be she had almost perfect recall of their conversations and always used it as ammunition when they were sober. For such a small human, Toph had a surprisingly good alcohol tolerance.

“So?! The girl? Did she come into the Dragon today?” Toph asked, punctuating her questions with a couple more pokes to the head. Zuko waved her hand away with a tired arm. He thought about lying again, but then thought better. Toph was like a human lie detector and would probably pester him until he told the truth. He turned back around a sunk back into the couch.

“Yes, she came in today. With her stupid fucking brothers, again,” Zuko huffed, getting heated, “She’s so nice and pretty and socialized but then those little monsters come in and make a mess and talk way too loud! I had to tell them to get their feet off the tables twice and then clean up a huge spill that the smaller one made when he took his feet down. I hate cleaning other peoples’ messes! I’m not a maid!” 

“Aw, I know you’re not a maid, Zuko,” Toph said and walked around the couch to sit by him. “But, I also know that if you actually like this girl, you’re going to have to get along with her brothers.”

“Why?! They’re idiotic!” Zuko flung his head back with a scoff.

“The key to anyone’s heart is through the people they love. Treat the people they care about with kindness, and they’ll be much more open to you.

“You seem to know a lot about this tactic…” Zuko said. He was surprised that Toph would have advice about stuff like this, she didn’t actually have too many friends outside of the dojo she taught at.

Toph laughed, light eyes crinkling at the corners, “Why else would I tolerate you? I’ve only been indulging you these past 8 years so I can get closer to Iroh. That man has biceps of steel.”

Zuko mimed gagging, “Stop it. God, I’m gonna vomit.” 

Toph laughed for another moment, but then her expression sobered, “In all honesty, Zuko, when we first met, I knew the only way you were going to tolerate my existence was if Iroh convinced you I wasn’t a complete nuisance. I sat through hours of his lectures because I knew his approval of me meant everything to you. And then I beat you up at the dojo to seal the deal. But I don’t think you should do that to your lady friend. Unprofessional.” She shook her head a little.

“You didn’t beat me up! You tricked me! I didn’t know we were fighting…” Zuko whined, but then dropped the long argued topic among the two of them. He thought about what she had said about becoming his friend. He never thought that someone would care about him enough to sit through Iroh’s lectures. He loved the man dearly, but when his Uncle lectured, they lasted for hours, sometimes circling the same three metaphors without any concrete subject. They were extremely hard to get through, and Zuko had been listening to them almost his whole life. 

“As much as I pretended to be tough, I was just a lonely kid. I think I saw that you were a lonely kid, too. And I wanted to change that.”

“Toph,” Zuko said softly, putting a hand on her arm, “Thank you for being my friend. And for the girl advice. You’re oddly knowledgeable for a melon head.”

“And you’re oddly grumpy for a princess,” Toph said, smiling at the nickname Zuko had used. It was another old one, from their first year at school. Toph and he had a melon smashing competition. Like most of their plans, it had ended up a little messy, the two of them trying to pelt each other with melon. “But back to the girl. The next time she comes in, you’re gonna play nice with her brothers, okay? And then report back to me. I’m invested in this little crush of yours now, and I need entertainment.”

“Ugh, fine,” Zuko said, he knew that arguing with Toph was futile. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and both Toph and he startled.

“Yay! Iroh’s here! I’m starving,” Toph said and got up to let Iroh in. By the door, she kicked Zuko’s shoes onto the shoe rack. Then, she turned around and said to Zuko with a wrinkle in her nose, “And you, go shower before dinner. You smell like matcha and desperation. It’s sad and I don’t want Iroh to see you like this. You’ll bring shame to our little household.”

Zuko huffed a laugh at that and then went down the hallway to the bathroom, hearing Toph greet his uncle in the entryway with enthusiasm. He shook his head and thought to himself, how did he deserve such caring people surrounding him?

The next day at work, Zuko thought over what Toph had said. He could be nice to those boys. He could, really. It was going to take all his temperament, but he was going to be nice if it killed him.

He really really liked Katara. She was so smart and funny. Everytime she came in, it was the best part of his day. She usually ordered one of Iroh’s specialty ‘study blends.’ They were all tea with high caffeine content. Zuko himself didn’t really drink caffeinated tea, but it was popular among students. 

When he called her order, Katara always came up to get it with a smile and an anecdote. Zuko always assumed she was just being polite to him, she must’ve known that the days got kind of long and that there were sometimes rude customers and she just wanted to give him a little relief from that. He really appreciated it. 

Zuko picked at the edge of his sleeve. Along with his classic black jeans, he had worn a navy pullover with silver embroidery of a dragon on the back. He had decided on a diamond stud in one ear and a silver chain that connected up to a cuff on the top of his other ear. A nice thing about his uncle owning this shop was that there wasn’t any sort of dress code, so Zuko could wear what he wanted, as long as he put the Jasmine Dragon apron on over it. The apron itself was black with the logo of the shop printed at the top in white. It went with just about everything Zuko wore, so he didn’t mind it much.

Wiping down the counter for what seemed like the thousandth time, Zuko heard the door open and looked up to see Katara walking in with her brothers. He suppressed a smile at seeing her and knew his face probably looked like he had stepped on a lego or something. He used to be so good at hiding his emotions, this girl had really gotten under his skin, hadn’t she?

“Hi,” Katara said, as she approached the counter. Zuko nodded and gave a slight smile, but continued wiping down the counters. He wasn’t on register today, instead it was one of his coworkers Jet. As she listed off their orders, Zuko started on making the drinks, grimacing at Jet’s small talk.

Zuko kind of hated Jet. He thought that maybe if they didn’t work together, they might have been friends, but at the Dragon, that didn’t really go well. Jet was a terrible worker. He only cleaned when asked to by Zuko or Iroh, he constantly forgot how to make the drinks and often gave people the wrong order. The kicker was Jet’s customer service consisted of flirting with everything that breathed. While Zuko couldn’t really fault him on that alone, it was the fact that it seemed to work on just about _everyone_ , that really grinded Zuko’s gears. No matter who it was, from college girls to 80 year old men, Jet could charm them into just about anything. There was no doubt in Zuko’s mind that at least a third of their repeat customers were due to Jet’s influence. Technically, this meant more business for Iroh, so Zuko shouldn’t be too bitter about it, but it was a constant reminder of how unsociable he felt. Ugh.

One thing that gave Zuko a twisted sense of justification was that Jet’s charms didn’t seem to work on Katara anymore. When she had first started showing up, it seemed like she was enthralled by him, just like everyone else, but after a few weeks, she was less receptive to him. He wondered what had changed. Maybe she saw through Jet’s charming little ruse like Zuko did. Zuko didn’t know, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

He poured steamed soy milk into the last cup for Katara and her brothers, they all had got a different variation of tea latte. Zuko looked up to see where the group was sitting in the tea shop. He spotted them in the far corner by the entrance to the stockroom. He saw Katara quickly turn her head away right as he was about to make eye contact. The older of her two brothers then rolled his eyes, probably at something the younger one had said. Interesting. 

Katara looked especially cute today, the front of her hair was pulled back in its usual way, but there seemed to be extra hair clips sectioning off pieces of hair on the top half of her head. It looked like it took a long time to do and Zuko wished she had sat a little closer so he could see better. She was wearing blue, another constant, and today she had on a sky blue tunic dress with a medieval looking lace up front. Katara had on the same Docs as Zuko(and no that wasn’t giving him a complex at all…) and an oversized white and blue striped button up. Zuko sighed and mentally catalogued this outfit among all the others he had seen. She never seemed to run out of blue clothes, it was impressive.

He realized he had been staring for too long and turned back to his work, noticing he had already finished making the drinks. Zuko put the cups up on the serving counter and called out Katara’s name. His voice was not shaking, no siree. He would never get over the fact that this girl affected him so much. It was ridiculous!

Katara got up, flipping her long hair over her shoulder and walking up to the counter. Like usual, she didn’t just grab the drinks and go, she pushed them to the side and braced a hand on the counter before starting whatever anecdote she was going to tell him today. 

“Good morning,” she started, “You’re pretty lucky today. I think the boys are too tired from working yesterday to cause any trouble. We spent the whole day working on my family’s boats and apparently that’s the one thing those idiots will take seriously…” She shook her head at their ridiculousness, relatable.

But boats! Here was something Zuko actually knew a lot about! Zuko and his Uncle had been living relatively nomadically until they decided to settle down in Ba Sing Se. They’d lived in a houseboat of sorts. Iroh had homeschooled Zuko while they travelled. His teenage years were filled with the memories of meeting new people and going to new exciting places every few weeks. 

Before Katara could continue, Zuko bit out, “What kind of boats?” and hoped he didn’t sound as socially awkward as he felt.

Katara looked up at him, slight surprise gracing her beautiful face before she turned excited. “They’re umiaks. You’ve probably never heard of them, but-”

“Traditional Inuit canoe,” Zuko cut her off, mentally kicking himself, “Ugh, sorry to interrupt.”

“No, no, that’s so cool that you know what an umiak is!” Katara waved her hands for emphasis. “I haven’t ever met someone outside of my family who knows that.” Katara’s eyes were bright with excitement and Zuko was going to die at how cute she was.

“My uncle and I sailed for a few years before we decided to settle down here and open the shop. You learn a few things about boats when you’re on the sea for so long, I guess…” Zuko risked a smile. Knowing his face, it probably looked a little out of place, but whatever.

It must’ve worked at least a little, because Katara’s smile widened. Zuko took that as encouragement and continued, “Do you guys have a lot of boats?”

Katara nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, we do. Actually, that’s my family’s business. Boatmaking.” 

Zuko felt his body stiffen at the response. As much as Zuko loved boats himself, the boat making business was a touchy subject for him. His own family owned a lucrative sailing company. After his swift exit from the family business(and the family itself) when he was a teenager, he tried to avoid any talk of the business.

He forced himself out of the awkward moment with a small smile, trying to think of a sequiter that would take them away from risky conversation territory. He was saved from his fruitless efforts when Katara continued speaking like she hadn’t just witnessed him totally blue screen at the mere mention of boat making.

“That’s not what I hope to do for the rest of my life, though. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I’m actually going through the Enviro Chemistry program at the University right now.” Zuko smiled for real at that, she had said it before. Katara gave a blinding grin back and then her eyes widened, “I mean not _right now_ , right now, obviously. But when I’m not at home or here, then I’m usually in the lab. Which is actually kind of sad when you think about it, wow...” She trailed off at the end there, looking down at the counter.

“Not as sad as me, I only go here and back to the apartment which is just a few blocks away. I don’t think I’ve gone into downtown Ba Sing Se for months.” Zuko tried to catch her eye by ducking his head a little and mentally gave himself a high five when Katara looked up. A piece of her hair had fallen in front of her face when she leant forward and Zuko had to physically restrain the hand that wasn’t grabbing the counter behind his back, like some sort of waiter, so he wouldn’t do something stupid like brush it behind her ear.

“Hmm, what a pair we make then, huh?.” Katara said to him, looking thoughtful. Zuko found himself leaning closer to her crystalline blue eyes, trying not to think too hard about what she had said. She continued, her tone serious, “It just seems like people our age should be out doing things. Going to parties and stuff. I don’t know…”

Zuko nodded, “I understand how you feel, totally. I always see people coming in here with friends and then I see everyone going out to parties on the weekends. It’s hard not to get swept up in feeling like I’m doing something wrong. But,” Zuko tipped his head to one side and looked up, “then I think about how I have my uncle, the shop and everyone here, and I get to live with my best friend. I don’t think I’m missing much, and I’m honestly happy with my life, for the first time in a long time.” he tried for a small smile and made eye contact with Katara again, “I think as long as you’re happy, it shouldn’t matter if you’re living up to society's expectations of what you’re supposed to be doing. You’re living for _you_ , not them, so live the way you want to and the rest will fall into place.” Wow. That was a lot, he didn’t tend towards the motivational, but today was all kinds of surprising so he let it fly.

“That was actually really insightful...” Katara said and then shook her head viciously, her eyes wide, “Not that it’s surprising that you would be insightful or anything! I just mean, you’re right. And that’s probably the most I’ve ever heard you say… I mean today in general there has been a lot. Uhm. I’m going to stop talking now…” She looked up like she was kind of hoping to get smited. It was a sentiment that Zuko related to, but he didn’t want Katara to feel bad about anything.

“No, no, no. I get it” Zuko laughed, “I don’t usually talk a lot. I’m kind of surprised at myself to be honest. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, well I’m going to go bring these over to my brothers. And try not to hope that the ground will just swallow me whole.”

“Uh, yeah. Good luck with that. And I have to.. Uhm.. I have to get more.. Tea! I have to get more hibiscus green.” He said the name of the first tea box he saw on the counter and then winced at himself. This is why he didn’t talk to people.

“Alright, have fun with your tea. It was really nice talking to you.” Katara flashed one of her classic blinding smiles and Zuko ignored the way his heart sped at that, nodding at her before walking swiftly to the back stockroom where they kept dry storage

Zuko paced past the wooden shelves in the stockroom a few times before focusing on the reason he decided to go back there in the first place. Zuko found the tin of tea he had been looking for and placed his hands on the sides of the shelf by his head, leaning forward until his forehead was touching the wood. 

He really liked talking to Katara. Having an actual conversation with her-instead of awkwardly listening- was totally worth the nerves. Zuko straightened and ran his hands through his hair. He pulled the top half of his hair out of his face and tied it up. It was just long enough to be put into the hair binder he kept on his wrist for this purpose. He took a few deep breaths and prepared himself to go back into the shop.

Coming out from the stockroom, Zuko froze when he heard Katara’s voice. She must’ve been standing by the bathroom. The shop was set up in such a way that you had to pass the hallway to the bathroom in order to get all the way to the stockroom. Still paused at the doorway, Zuko debated on what to do, listening to Katara. Her words sounded muffled, like she was speaking into her hands or something. 

“Ugh. I don’t know what to do. I’m usually good at reading people, but it’s just so hard to gauge how he’s feeling!” There was silence for a while, like the person on the other end of the line was talking. “No, I know, I know. You’re right.” Another pause. “Yeah… eventually…” There were a few beats before Katara spoke again, “I just want to know for sure. It’s not like a fear of breaking tradition, it’s a fear of reading the entire situation wrong. I really like him, and I don’t want to mess it up!” 

Zuko felt bad for eavesdropping, but that was the only way back into the main area of the shop. He backed up into the storeroom and decided to wait it out where he couldn’t hear her. It was the least he could do after listening to so much.

He took out his phone and started a game of sudoku. He would give her five minutes and then check again. After 2 games of sudoku and an aborted attempt at texting Toph(he didn’t want the drama that went along with updating her right now), Zuko left the storeroom. Carefully listening to see if Katara was on the phone still. It sounded like the coast was clear so he kept walking. This was like a scene out of a movie, not real life.

Zuko shook his head and continued around the corner. He put the new tin of hibiscus matcha he had grabbed on the shelf behind the counter. He was not going to overthink this anymore. There was nothing that could really prove that Katara was talking about him. Besides, he was far too antisocial for anyone to have a crush on. She must’ve been talking about some guy in her Chem program or something. 

When he looked over to her table, she wasn’t there, but her two brothers were still seated. They were leaning towards each other, talking about something that seemed pretty intense. Whatever, it wasn’t Zuko’s business to know what was going on with those kids.

He scanned the tea shop, looking for something that could use his attention, he needed to distract himself. He stopped when he saw the bookshelf on one of the far walls. Iroh had introduced a book swap type system to keep the books in rotation. If people wanted one of the books, they had to leave one in its place. It was looking a little chaotic, currently. Different titles stacked on each other without any sort of organization. Zuko hummed to himself and went over to the shelf. He decided to start at the bottom and work his way up, making sure each book was faced the same way and he tried to put similar titles near each other. He was almost done with the bottomost shelf when he heard someone coming his way. 

“Alright, _Huo_. We’re going to have a talk,” Zuko felt his face flush while two navy blue converse stepped into his line of vision where he was crouching by the bookcase. Huo. That was a name he hadn’t heard out loud in awhile. Probably not since he graduated college. He really hated that name, it was just a reminder of his shitty past. When Zuko looked up to see who was speaking to him, he had to curb his reaction. It was Katara’s brothers. Still fighting the urge to roll his eyes or growl audibly, Zuko stood up to face the boys.

“I’d rather you not call me that,” Zuko bit out. He had worked on his anger issues, but having someone call him by that name unprompted was really testing his coping strategies. He clenched his fists and swallowed. “Can I help you with something?” he asked while trying not to glare too hard as he scanned them. 

The taller one looked a lot more like Katara. A few inches shorter than Zuko, he had tan skin and his dark hair was pulled up into a topknot. He had an affinity for the color blue, like his sister, and was currently wearing a navy sleeveless top, his faded blue converse standing out against the heavy duty black cargo pants. The shorter brother didn’t even look like he could be related to them. He usually wore a hat, but he must have taken it off while Zuko wasn’t paying attention, because the kid was bald and had interesting blue markings in the shape of an arrow tattooed on his skull. Why a kid so young had gotten head tattoos was beyond Zuko, but that was a later question. The kid was short and super pale compared to his siblings. He had a color scheme he followed too and today the kid was wearing an oversized orange shirt with an unfamiliar red logo over some of the most ridiculously yellow shorts Zuko had ever seen. His neon orange crocs just completed the look. 

Zuko realised he never really looked too close at these two, he had always been so focused on Katara. It was kind of amazing he hadn’t given them too much thought, they looked like goddamned cartoon characters. 

During his assessment, the older brother had shifted on his feet and the younger one had frozen, they looked nervous. Zuko was privately pleased that he was intimidating. It was probably the scar, mostly, but whatever. He was going to take a win. “I said; _can I help you with something_.” Zuko repeated, adding a little edge to his voice, for fun. The boys had been terrorizing his shop for months, he deserved a little revenge.

Finally, the older one spoke, looking up at Zuko with a glint of something hard in his eyes, “We wanted to tell you to stay away from our sister.” Zuko’s eyes widened imperceptibly as he heard this. He didn’t think he could’ve done anything that offensive to warrant this confrontation, but he did often look homicidal so he wasn’t going to write them off too quickly.

“Stay away from your sister?” Zuko repeated back. This day was getting weirder and weirder. 

“Yeah, our sister. Katara Siku. We know you know her, she talks to you all the time when we come in here.” Hmm. Siku, that name sounded familiar, but Zuko couldn’t really place it.

“And who are you two, then?” Zuko asked them, getting more confused by the minute. The boys looked at each other, the shorter one shrugging before scratching the back of his head and looking anywhere but at Zuko. The older one scoffed at Zuko, and it was all he could do not to roll his eyes and walk away from this ridiculous situation.

“What?! We said we wanted you to stay away from Katara!” The older brother’s voice got higher as he got more agitated. It was very grating and Zuko took a deep breath in through his nose, calming his heart rate. Who knew it would take one kid to completely shatter all of his anger management strategies?

“I know, I heard you. I just want to know who thinks I’m some sort of danger to your sister.” The kid furrowed his brow. Zuko sighed and continued, “Apparently you know who I am, so isn’t it only fair that you tell me your names?”

The shorter kid put a hand on his brother’s arm and said to him, “It’s fine, okay?” He then turned to Zuko and smiled a creepily authentic grin that only kids wearing neon crocs can do and said “I’m Aang, and this is my brother Sokka.” Sokka rolled his eyes at this and Zuko had to curb his growing annoyance once again.

“Okay, Sokka, Aang, why do you want me to stay away from your sister?” He tried to sound calm. “And let me remind you that I just work here, it’s not like I’m forcing you guys to come to the shop.” He adjusted the apron at his waist just to emphasize his role here.

The brothers glanced at each other a little nervously before Aang nudged his brother and Sokka said, “We know about your family and we know what you’re trying to do to our business. So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from Katara. Huo Marine has already done enough to our family and we don’t want our sister to get burned,” Zuko winced, “by one of _them._ ” Sokka spit out the word like it was on fire. 

Zuko was really starting to lose the tumultuous hold he had on his anger. He thought it was common knowledge by now that the disgraced son of Ozai Huo was no longer part of the family business. His exit had been public enough that he thought he’d earned a clean break from the family. Apparently not.

“You have a lot of nerve to walk in here today, look me in the eyes,” Zuko gestured to his scar, “call me by _that_ name, and then accuse me of having anything to do with _them_.” He had the strong urge to punch something. He had to get out of there before that _something_ was Sokka’s face.

“I don’t-” Sokka started but Zuko cut him off.

“I’m going to let this go and just assume you’re ignorant as fuck, but a simple google search would let you know I have nothing to do with that family or their cursed business anymore. So do some fucking reasearch and maybe we can talk again when I don’t want to rip your head off, hmm?” Zuko pushed past the two boys, not trying to hold back his strength so they both stumbled back a few steps.

He tore off his apron tossing it on the counter over by Jet. “I’m leaving.” Jet’s head whipped up and before he could stay anything Zuko bit out, “I’ll call Iroh to come in for me. Don’t worry.”

Right before opening the door, Zuko saw someone out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Katara exit the back hallway, she must’ve been in the restroom. Confusion filled her eyes, but Zuko didn’t have the capacity to deal with that now. Closing his eyes and centering himself, Zuko turned around and burst out the shop door, walking in the direction of the apartment. He pulled out his phone and sent a few texts to Iroh.

_Something came up and I had to leave the shop_

_Could you please come down so Jet doesn’t have a coronary_

_-Zuko_

_SURE_

_WE’LL TALK ABOUT THIS LATER_

_-IROH_

_Yes, Uncle_

_-Zuko_

_GOOD_

_WHILE IT IS ALWAYS BEST TO BELIEVE IN ONESELF, A LITTLE HELP FROM OTHERS CAN BE A GREAT BLESSING._

_-IROH_

Zuko scoffed under his breath and put his phone away when he hit his apartment building. Instead of going up, he went to the back entrance where there was access to the parking garage. He was going to go visit Toph at work. Maybe they could spar a little and that would help him get rid of his negative energy. 

He pulled out the keys once he got to his motorcycle. The bike was one of the few things he had made sure to get back from the estate when he left all those years ago. He popped open the seat compartment to pull out his helmet. He put it on and then straddled the bike, driving always helped him feel in control. The sun was setting as he peeled out of the garage, heading towards Toph’s dojo. There was nothing better than a ride during sunset.

On his drive to the dojo, half blinded by the golden light reflecting off the windows of Ba Sing Se’s commercial district, Zuko tried not to think about his family. He failed.

Growing up, Zuko had thought he had a normal childhood. Normal families had secrets and normal parents discipline their children. After his mother’s death, his father had a hard time taking responsibility for his children. At the time he thought, if his dad hit him, it was because he deserved it. He knew he wasn’t as filial as he could’ve been. Zuko tried his best to listen and do what Ozai wanted him to do, but he’d had strong opinions, even back then. Too many times he’d received a backhand to the face or a glass thrown at his head. 

He didn’t understand the depth of his family’s dysfunction until his uncle came back to their estate when he was a teenager. Iroh had walked into the house, taken one look at Zuko, and knew something was wrong. He’d tried to convince Zuko and his sister to leave with him, but the two had been too stubborn and disillusioned by their father to leave. Azula especially had gawked at this idea, turning to tell their father what Iroh had said. Ozai had promptly kicked Iroh off the estate, saying that he had no right to interfere on how he ran his family.

Over the months after that, his father’s anger grew and grew. Iroh’s return to the estate and then subsequent banishment had made Zuko more outspoken in most situations. His uncle had encouraged him to have his own thoughts and ethics.

The entire torrid experience culminated the night of a boat party on one of his father’s yachts. It was a business gathering of sorts, all of his dad’s coworkers had been there to celebrate some huge deal that had gone through. Ozai was the CEO of Huo Marine, a top ten yacht company. Having such a successful family company had made Zuko’s childhood privileged, no doubt, but very complicated. His family was never lacking, but the excessive wealth had made his father entitled and power hungry, always looking for situations he could take advantage of.

The night of the party, both Zuko and Azula were required to attend, as heirs to the company. Not unlike other parties Zuko had attended, his father had been drinking a lot and behaving rudely towards the waitstaff. Zuko tried to ignore Ozai's behavior, knowing that reprimanding him in front of the guests was a PR nightmare, but after grabbing one of the waitresses, Zuko couldn’t be quiet. 

He’d tried to do it discreetly, offering his father a glass of water and suggesting he keep his hands to himself. That only served to make Ozai more handsy. In one impulsive moment, Zuko had pushed his father away from the waitress. His father must’ve forgotten himself as well, Ozai in return chucked his glass of whiskey at Zuko’s head. He’d stumbled back into one of the tiki torches lighting the deck of the boat. The glass had shattered on his head, the amber liquid igniting instantly. 

Luckily enough, Zuko had passed out at this, only waking up once in an ambulance. He’d started screaming instinctively, his face felt like an inferno. The paramedics administered something that knocked him out, because the next time he woke up, he was in the hospital, hooked up to a shit ton of different machines, painkillers numbing most of his face.

Zuko had spent weeks after the incident in the hospital, bandages covering half his face. His uncle seemed to be there the entire time, too. Updating Zuko on the ongoing legal case his father was involved with due to the incident. With so many witnesses around to see what Ozai had done, it was pretty clear that there was something wrong with the man. In the meantime, Azula, who wasn’t even 20 yet, was taking over Huo Marine as interim CEO.

After recovering, Zuko went with Iroh and they started their sailing tour. Iroh had a personal sailboat that he had been living in for years. On the ocean, they had avoided any news of the family business, as Iroh could tell how agitated it made Zuko to hear about. But some news was hard to avoid. 

After a few years of sailing, Zuko heard that his father was out of jail and psychiatric treatment, returning as head of the company with Azula as company heir. 

There hadn’t been much big news from Huo Marine after that, just a few articles about the company acquiring a few smaller sailing businesses to add to the conglomerate, so Zuko thought that he wouldn’t have to worry about that part of his life anymore. His past seemed to catch up with him, though, no matter what he thought.

Pulling up in front of the dojo, Zuko realized he had been driving there on autopilot. He barely remembered the drive and was lucky he hadn’t crashed into anything. Zuko put his helmet back in the seat compartment and mentally prepared himself to talk to Toph. She knew his schedule and that he should be at work, so she would definitely ask him questions.

As he entered the dojo he saw a few students making their way out the door. He had come at the 30 minute break between classes. Nodding to a few of the kids he recognized, Zuko walked right to the studio, hard rock blasting through the surround sound audio system Toph had made the dojo purchase. She said that trying to fight with the extra stimulus was a challenge and Toph loved her little challenges. Somehow, she still heard Zuko enter over the blaring guitars. 

“Hey, princess. I thought you were supposed to be at work.” Toph yelled over the music. Zuko stepped into the studio and watched the girl stalk over to the remote and turned the music down to a respectful level. She was wearing her usual green and grey garb. Whenever she was at the dojo Toph looked like she had just walked off the set of a classic martial arts movie, flowing pants and a tunic that she usually wore untied and sometimes just forewent entirely, in favor of a compression tank.

Checking to make sure they were alone in the room, Zuko replied, “I am, but something happened and I had to leave. I kind of wanted to punch something so I came here.” He looked down and scuffed the floor once before thinking better of it and pulling on his sweater sleeve instead. 

“So you didn’t come here for my excellent friendship skills, hmm?” Toph said, like the little shit that she was.

“I’ll tell you about it later, I just wanna hit stuff now.” Zuko said and hoped that Toph would understand, she was usually pretty good at sensing his foul moods and reacting appropriately.

“Are you sure this isn’t something you wanna talk about? I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be hitting stuff right now. No offense, but you sound like shit, princess.”

Toph was never one to pull punches, literally or figuratively. Zuko sighed and ran his hands over his face, noticing that his eyes were a little wet at the edges. He must’ve been tearing up on his way here, how pathetic. Ugh. If Toph wasn’t going to let him punch it out right now, then he didn’t know what to do.

Looking anywhere but at Toph, Zuko walked to the edge of the mat and started reading the different awards that were hung up on the wall. Most of them were Toph’s from over the years. She was infamous for her ability to take down any opponent, no matter their size, and had a lot of success at tournaments throughout the years. It was kind of funny that they were up there, considering the fact that she couldn’t see them, but they were impressive to see and other students had awards on the wall, so it wasn’t all Toph. Scanning the awards, his eyes caught on one of the plaques. On the brass was _Ba Sing Se Wushu Tournament: Baguazhang #1 Champion_ with a familiar name underneath: Aang Kongqi-Siku. 

Zuko stopped and turned to Toph, “Do you know a kid named Aang?”

“Yeah! He’s one of the best at the dojo actually, him and his brother both attend classes here.” Toph’s eyes looked in Zuko’s direction suspiciously, “Why do you ask, princess?”

Zuko rolled his eyes and said, frustrated, “Those are Katara’s-the girl from the tea shop-those are her brothers!”

Toph’s face did this weird twisty thing and she looked away, “Uh… interesting…” 

Why would she respond like that? Zuko was getting frustrated with this day. First, he narrowly misses making a fool of himself in front of the girls he likes. Second, her idiot brothers bring up a whole bunch of shit he thought he could move on from. Third, his best friend is acting weird about said brothers. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you knew her family?!” Zuko’s face heated up as he started to get angry, again. He clenched his fists as he turned around and looked down at Toph, “Hm?”

“Uh-It’s not like I could reference your description of them or anything! I’m _blind_ , you absolute idiotic mess of man.” Toph punched him in the sternum, not as hard as she could’ve but it wasn’t the lightest hit either. Zuko stumbled back a few steps, tripping over a boxing mitt someone had left on the ground.

With that, it felt as if cold water had suddenly doused all the fire in Zuko’s veins, “Shit, sorry, Toph.” He deflated and sat down on the mat, putting his left hand over his face, a habit he had taken to after he’d gotten his scar. It was a kind of coping mechanism, both to hide his insecurities but also protect himself at the same time. 

If he was being honest with himself, Zuko often forgot that Toph was blind. His friend was mysteriously capable of knowing where things were. He had asked her once about how she was so cognizant of her surroundings and Toph had made some comments about Daredevil and echolocation and that she was a practitioner of mystical arts. He decided to drop the topic after that. After all, it didn’t really matter to him, and if Toph didn’t want to talk about it he wouldn’t push the subject.

Toph sighed and patted his head, “Don’t you fucking start, Princess. It’s fine. If I’d have known that this girl was Aang’s sister, you know I would’ve told you.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze.

Zuko nodded and then cursed himself under his breath before saying, “Yeah, yeah, I know you would’ve. I just don’t understand why they hate me so much.”

“Oooh,” Toph grimaced and the hand on his shoulder was still. “I can provide some clarification for that, I think. Don’t punch me, okay? I’m just the messenger.”

“You and I both know the hit would ever land. Just tell me, Toph.”

Toph sighed and plopped down on the mat next to him, “Okay, but we have to be quick. Their class starts in like,” Toph tilted her head to the side, “13 minutes.”

Zuko looked to the clock on the wall and lo and behold, the girl was right. The next class was scheduled to start in 13 minutes. He did not know how she did it.

“Start talking then, Beifong. I’m dying here.” Zuko nudged Toph with his shoulder.

“Alright, alright. So I’ve overheard the boys talking about this guy and how they hate his family. I didn’t know that they were talking about you until right now, they always just said ‘that guy’ so I never put it together. It has to do with Huo Marine.” Toph turned to look at Zuko, her unseeing eyes focused on his cheek. “Apparently your dad’s company is trying to buy out small boat makers and is making it increasingly difficult for their family’s business to succeed.” 

“Wait, what? What does that have to do with me?” Zuko exclaimed. “I left the family years ago, jeez.”

“I don’t know why they didn’t know you weren’t involved anymore,” Toph pursed her lips. “Remember I only know this much from overhearing their conversations. I may have good ears, but that doesn’t make me a mind reader.”

“I know, I know. Thanks for telling me. How did you get all this from just hearing their conversations?” Zuko was impressed, honestly.

“I may not be a mind reader, but I am good at reading in between the lines, princess. That, and the fact that they were very adamant about why they hated you so much. Those boys don’t do subtlety…” Toph tsked and shook her head, turning to look forward again. “We can spar for a little before my next class if you want now.”

“Nah, I’ll let you have a break. I’m just tired now.” Zuko let himself fall flat back onto the mat. “I’m tired, but I also just really want to clarify with those boys about my family.” He groaned and flung an arm over his eyes. “This is ridiculous. I’ve never felt like this before and I really like Katara and I don’t want her to think that I’d ever do anything to hurt her family, ya know? I just want her to be happy. I fucking hate Huo Marine but if I could help out the Siku’s, I’d talk to my dad or Azula in a heartbeat.” Zuko slammed a fist down on the mat. He was being dramatic, but this day had been a doozy and he deserved a little bit of theatrics. “Fuck me.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m gonna have to decline,” an annoyingly familiar voice sounded from across the studio. Zuko shot up and looked to see Sokka standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe, an obnoxious smirk on his face.

“You! How long-” Zuko started but was cut off.

“Did you really mean what you said?” Sokka asked, all humor gone from his face. “Do you really like her?”

Zuko was frozen. “I- I- Yes, I really like her,” He said, kind of desperately. He turned to look at Toph who was still sitting by him on the map. He gave her a whack and muttered “Help me” under his breath. She shrugged in response. So unhelpful.

“Okay,” Sokka nodded, “Then I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Aang and I did a little research on our way over here. It wasn’t fair of us to accuse you of something like that, especially after what happened. I’d bet you hate them just as much as we do, honestly.”

“Fair assumption,” Zuko said and stood up. Walking over to where Sokka was standing in the doorway, he crossed his arms across his chest. “Look, I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m far too tired for pleasantries and you bug the shit out of me, but I do really care about your sister. I don’t want to see her or your family get hurt. If you think that there’s something I can do to help your business, then I’ll do it.” And he meant it. He thought he would never have to see his dad again, but if it meant helping Katara, then he’d talk to Ozai.

“We could never ask you to do that, man.” Sokka put his hands up in a mock surrender. “No offense, or anything, but I don’t think your presence in the situation would make it any better, to be honest. You’re kind of a hot mess when it comes to confrontation, as we figured out so elegantly this afternoon.” Fair observation. “Not to mention, after the shit they pulled, even I wouldn’t want to make you go back there. Jeez” Sokka shook his head once and looked away like it was really hard to be saying what he was saying. Zuko almost pitied him. Almost.

Zuko brought a hand up and scratched the back of his neck. It was crazy how quickly Sokka had changed his mind about him. He wasn’t too upset about it, but he was pretty used to hating the kid, so this was new.

“So, that’s why,” Sokka continued, turning back to Zuko, “I think you should ask Katara out when we come to the Dragon tomorrow.”

“What?!” Zuko’s eyes shot to Sokka. He gave Zuko a sardonic look and Zuko fumbled to find something to say. He turned to look at Toph who was still sitting on the mat like nothing was happening, a slight smirk on her lips. Zero loyalty. Zuko addressed Sokka again, squinting his eyes, “Are you fucking with me?”

The other boy chuckled and fiddled with the bottom of his tank, “No. It’s hard to believe and very out of character for me, but I’m not fucking with you. Katara likes you. No, seriously she does.” Sokka assured Zuko after seeing the skeptical look on his face. “She likes you and you obviously like her if you’re willing to talk to your father for her. I’m not sure if I fully approve of you or not, but Katara deserves someone who cares about her like you do. As loathe as I am to admit it, I think you could be good for each other.” His voice went high at the end of the phrase, like it was physically paining him to say. 

Zuko held back a chuckle that was working it’s way up at Sokka’s obvious discomfort. “Thanks. With that glowing recommendation, I don’t know how I _can’t_ ask her out…” 

“I know, I know. Just do it, okay? I want her to be happy,” Sokka almost pleaded.

“You know this is weird, right? Brothers aren’t usually supposed to beg people to ask their sister’s out…” Toph started laughing at that.

“Shut up, Toph,” both Sokka and Zuko said at the same time and then grimaced. This was mortifying.

“I’m not begging, okay? I just think this could be a mutually beneficial situation and I’m a guy with plans and this is a good plan.” Sokka’s hands flew as he spoke, his irritation apparent. “Just ask her out. Oh, and if you hurt her, I’ll murder you and all that jazz. Aang and I are surprisingly stealthy, you won’t even know we’re coming.”

Toph snorted, “That’s a lie, Aang’s stealthy, you’re like a fucking herd of elephants.”

“Whatever, either way, they’ll never find your body. Anyways, this was fun, but I’m done with this conversation now.” 

“Agreed,” Zuko said monotone, his blood pressure couldn’t take much more of Sokka’s energy. 

Sokka turned around to head back outside but then quickly turned back, “Oh, I almost forgot. Come outside for a second. Aang wanted to give you something.” Sokka gestured over his shoulder to the entryway of the dojo. 

Give him something? Zuko was confused but went along with it. He turned back to the studio. “I’ll see you back at the apartment, Toph.”

“Sure, princess. Make something good for dinner,” Toph demanded from her spot on the floor, “Be nice to him, huh, snoozles?” This was directed at Sokka and Zuko looked at the kid in question.

“Don’t ask,” Sokka said, waving off Toph’s words.

As the two stepped outside, it was easy to spot Aang walking across the road in his neon garb. The kid gave a huge wave with one arm as he saw Sokka and Zuko, a big white bag from a local boutique in his other hand.

“Where have you been?” Zuko asked Aang as he got closer, trying to tone down the natural hostility in his voice.

“Oh, he, uh, he felt really bad about earlier so he went off to get you a gift,” Sokka explained, “I told him not to but stubbornness runs in the family and here we are.” He gestured to the approximate area of everything around them.

“Here.” Aang pushed the large bag into Zuko’s hands. 

Zuko opened the bag, not really knowing what to expect. He pulled out a bundle of dark red fabric. Unfolding the garment, Zuko saw it was a thick knit sweater. Definitely something he’d wear. 

“Wow, this is actually really nice. Uh, you didn’t have to do this…” Zuko kept inspecting the gift in his hands in order to avoid eye contact with the boys.

“It was the least we could do after the stunt we pulled at the shop.” Aang’s voice was inappropriately cheery and Zuko was guilted into looking up, giving him an authentic thank you.

“This is perfect, honestly.”

“Yeah, Katara always says you look good in red so I thought this was fitting!” Zuko wanted the asphalt to split and swallow him whole. What the hell was this day?

“Well, we’ve got to get in and go to class, but we’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Sokka put him out of his misery, giving Zuko a friendly clap on the arm, albeit a little hesitantly, like he was afraid Zuko might break his hand or something. “Remember you’ve got a job to do.” Sokka walked backwards into the door, doing an ‘I’ve got my eyes on you’ gesture with his hand.

“Yeah, tomorrow. Don’t let Toph give you too hard of a time in there, alright?” He tried for a playful tone but didn’t know how successful he was. He gave a quick salute to the two boys and turned back to his bike, happy to escape this little impromptu gathering.

The ride home was filled with Zuko brainstorming his plan of action for the next day. By the time he got home, he had a solid plan. Well he was kind of going to wing it, but he had an idea for how he was gonna wing it, and that was good enough for him.

He tried to get to bed early that night, knowing he was going to be lying awake for awhile and he didn’t want to look even more like a zombie then he normally did the next morning. 

Zuko woke up the next morning with a rock in his stomach. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of Katara. A lot was riding on what Sokka had said the day before, that Katara liked him back. Well, either way Zuko was going to do what he was going to do, so he headed out the door to work with determination. He decided to wear his new sweater that day, paired with his classic black jeans and Docs. He put on one of his oldest sets of earrings as well, garnet studs his mother had given him when he first pierced his ears.

That morning felt like one of the longest in his entire life. Every time the door opened, his eyes shot to the entryway, not knowing if he was hoping it was the Siku’s or relieved it wasn’t them. Even Jet noticed his odd behavior, shooting Zuko questioning looks over the register as the day wore on. 

At noon, Toph came in and Zuko was sure it was to witness him crash and burn. She picked a table in the back by the bookshelf, shooting Zuko a maniacal grin as she sat down, pulling some headphones out of her pocket to listen to something off her phone. Zuko went over to give her an iced tea, whispering “I hate you.” knowing full well she could hear him over whatever she was listening too.

“Love you too, princess,” she shot back, both her middle fingers up.

Zuko trudged back to the front, mumbling to himself and resuming his stress fest behind the counter.

Finally, around 3, Katara walked in, her brothers a step behind her, energetically arguing over something or other. Zuko didn’t know it was possible to be this nervous and was seriously regretting his choice of clothes, he was sweating and the thick cable knit sweater was not helping at all.

As the Siku’s ordered, Zuko tried to look busy. His little plan was going to be enacted _after_ he had made their drinks, just in case he had to make a quick escape. The three of them ordered tea lattes, a usual pick for them, and he focused on making the drinks so he wouldn’t get too nervous and wimp out. Double checking that he made all the drinks right, Zuko grabbed the mugs and checked to see where they were. Shit. They were sitting with Toph.

Shaking his head at himself, Zuko took a deep breath. Alright, show time. He made his way around the counter, he was going to deliver the drinks to the table before asking Katara if they could talk. He looked down at the drinks as he walked, making sure not to spill, but he never made it to their table in the back. He was intercepted by Katara herself, she was probably on her way to pick up the drinks from the counter, like usual.

Zuko laughed, kind of awkwardly. “I thought I’d switch it up today. Come to you.” He winced. What a way to start a conversation.

Katara just smiled up at him and Zuko started to feel some of the stress fall away. “Here, let me help.” She grabbed one of the cups and walked to the back table with him. The two of them set down the drinks and Zuko purposefully ignored the way Toph was wiggling her eyebrows at him suggestively. 

Before Katara could sit down, Zuko put a hand on her arm and leaned forward, “Do you think you could come with me for a second. I have something I wanted to ask.” Phew, that wasn’t so hard was it? Zuko pushed his hair back with a hand, gauging Katara’s reaction. 

She looked a little confused but said, “Yeah, of course!”

Aang looked between the two of them, confused. “Wait, why don’t you just say it here?”

“Uhm, we should-” Katara started saying, but was cut off as she tried to usher Zuko away from the table.

“No, twinkletoes is right. Why don’t you ask right here?” Toph suggested, and Zuko wished, not for the first time in his life, that she could see the glare he sent her way. “We’re among friends here.” Amusement glittered in her light eyes.

“Fine,” Zuko bit out, “Fine.” He said louder, getting the attention of a few people sitting nearby. Katara gave him an odd look. Zuko met her gaze. “I’ve wanted to say this for a while…” he broke off, voice quiet again.

“Everyone, be quiet for a sec!” Sokka yelled and Zuko could have hit him. The whole shop was quiet at once, looking in their direction. “Alright, continue. Wouldn’t want to repeat yourself, right?” An evil grin on his punchable face.

“Right,” Zuko tried not to growl.

“Sokka, what the heck?!” Katara whacked her brother on the shoulder. Nice.

“Just listen to the kid, okay? Let’s get this over with, pal.” Sokka pointed at Zuko and he had to roll his eyes at that.

Knowing he couldn’t push it off any longer, Zuko took one last calming breath and started his speech, “You don’t know much about me, I’m kind of a little socially awkward if you haven't noticed.” Katara laughed at that and Zuko ducked his head. “It’s not like I’ve made it easy for you, though. I bet it’s akin to talking to a brick wall. Yet you still came in every day to talk to me. You’ll never know how much I appreciated that, how much I looked forward to seeing you every day.“ She shook her head fondly.

He thought back to all the hours he’d spent behind the counter just listening to Katara talk about everything that crossed her mind and he continued his verbal tirade with renewed spirit, “But because of all those days, I know a lot about you. Like your favorite author is Jules Verne but you resent the fact that he’s a man. You hate it when Sokka gets in fights at school, but kind of like it because you know he’s always standing up for other people.” Sokka tried to say something at this but was silenced by Aang and Toph punching him in the gut. “I guess what I’m saying is that I know you. And I like you. A lot. And I want you to be able to get to know me.”

Around him, the tea shop was silent, everyone watching in rapt attention at the scene in front of them. Even Jet seemed to be hanging on every word, leaning over the counter to hear better.

“So, Katara Siku,” Zuko said, inwardly cringing at his little display, “Would you like to go out with me sometime?” Katara’s smile got even wider, but before she could open her mouth to respond she was interrupted.

“Say yes!” Sokka yelled from his spot at the table, “If I have to hear you wax poetic about his fancy hair or dreamy voice one more time, I’m gonna let Aang give me another concussion so I can fucking pass out and get some peace and quiet from your constant pining.”

Katara’s face started to flush and she laughed awkwardly, “Well, you heard the kid. My answer’s yes.” Cheers erupted around them and Zuko could feel his ears heat up. Toph, Aang, and Sokka were doing a three way high five from their table by the bookshelf.

“Good. Great.” Zuko grinned, his mind still reeling from his speech earlier. He was gonna go on a date with Katara Siku! After months of crushing on this girl he could finally get to know her in a capacity outside the Jasmine Dragon. Who'd've thought he’d ever get this far?

“Do you want to go out for dinner after you work?” Katara asked and Zuko nodded.

“Sounds good to me,” he said with a slight grin. The two of them just smiled at each other for a bit. Zuko was kind of basking in it, to be honest.

Staring into her beautiful blue eyes, a thought popped into Zuko’s head. “Well, I don’t get off until 6,” Zuko started and leaned on a table behind him. “So until then, do you want to explain what Sokka meant by my ‘fancy hair and dreamy voice’?” He raised an eyebrow at her and chuckled as Katara’s face turned even redder.

“Well, I-” Katara started to say and Zuko smiled to himself. As she fumbled her way through some sort of explanation, his grin never faltered. He was so excited to see where this new relationship could take them.

After a minute of frantic babbling from Katara she stopped and looked at Zuko, blushing in full force. “There’s something I need to know before we go any further with this, though.”

“Anything, just ask.” Zuko’s heart stopped for a second. 

“What’s your name?”

“Wait, what?”

-1 Month Later-

“So this is the girl that had you so hung up the past few months?” Iroh asked, as tactful as ever.

“Come on, Uncle it wasn’t that bad.” Zuko groaned and put his face in his hands. Katara put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

Toph, Zuko, and Katara were having dinner in the apartment. Toph had thought it was a good idea to invite Iroh over so he could meet Zuko’s new girlfriend. Zuko regretted agreeing to it more and more as the conversation continued, the four of them standing in the entryway to the apartment.

“Iroh, this is Katara,” Toph said, “Katara, this is Zuko’s Uncle Iroh. He owns the tea shop you seem to love so much. Unless you just went to the shop for Zuko. Which seems unlikely since he’s a grumpy meathead, but everyone’s got their own taste I guess…” 

Zuko pulled his head out of his hands to watch Katara blush slightly at Toph’s words. “No, no, I really do like the tea there. You own a lovely shop Iroh-laoshi.” She inclined her head slightly and Zuko fell in love a little bit at the sight.

“Ah so polite! Zuko, you really picked a good one.” Iroh clapped his hands together once in glee before waving off Katara’s words, “There is no need for that kind of title here, though. You’re not one of my students are you, hmm? I think Iroh is fine for now.”

“Of course,” Katara laughed. “So, Iroh, are you hungry? I decided to make one of my family’s favorite meals for us. I hope you like it.”

“I’m starving!” Knowing Iroh, that was probably true, the man ate like a beast. He put away more food than Toph did, and that was saying a lot.

With that, the four of them sat at the table, Katara serving food to each of their plates, starting with Iroh and then making her way around. As they began to eat, Toph piped up, “Hey, princess, why don’t you tell Iroh about Katara not knowing your name until after you asked her out. That’s a funny story.”

“Shut the fuck up, melon head.” Zuko glared at Toph, hoping she could feel his gaze on her. Somehow he thought she could as she smirked at him and stuck her tongue out. “It doesn’t help that Jet doesn’t ever call me by my name. I think he still thinks my real name is Lee. Thanks for telling him that when we first met, Toph.”

“Well, it’s all of our faults, I think,” Katara squeezed Zuko’s shoulder. “Iroh, I think maybe you should require your employees to wear name tags. It would clear things up.”

Iroh laughed, “That’s a good idea.” He winked at her over the table. Zuko rolled his eyes and kicked Toph in the shin. Or at least he tried. The girl moved her leg right as he was about to hit it, instead his foot hit the leg of the chair. Zuko groaned and grabbed his stubbed toes.

“Children, behave.” Iroh gave the two of them a look and Katara giggled. 

As Zuko resumed eating, easy conversation flowed around the table. 

He sat back for a second, looking at each of the three individuals he cared for so deeply. Zuko’s heart was filled with warmth as he watched the most important people in his life share a meal with him. Thinking back on the conversation he had with Katara all those weeks ago, it felt like a lifetime had passed. _Zuko was truly happy._

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hi hello! Thank you so much for reading!!! I’m actually not a big Zutara fan so if this seems out of character or odd then it is entirely on me and I apologize! This is my attempt at a Zutara fic please have mercy on me! That aside, I love when people tell me what they think of my writing, so go for it, good things and bad, I’m here for it :)
> 
> This fic was kind of a study in how long can I make a pairing fic and how little I can have the pairing actually interact. I feel very guilty about that, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.


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